Jan 19
The Burnham Volunteer Fire Department in MABAS Division 24 has been added to the website. Burnham covers just under a 1.5 square miles with 30 volunteers. They have two engines and a brush rig.
Burnham Fire Department station at 1401 Hoxie Avenue. Jack Connors photo
The Harvey Fire Department (MABAS Division 24) had a fire today at 15210 S. Park Avenue. Firefighters saved one building occupant. They requested a Full Still Alarm for mutual aid and made a quick hit on the fire. Riverdale came to the scene and other departments changed quarters into Harvey.
Dennis McGuire, Jr. submitted these shots taken after the fire was out.
Firefighters wait to pickup the remaining hand line after companies knocked down a fire at 15210 S. Park Avenue in Harvey. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Riverdale firefighters standby outside the building at 15210 S. Park Avenue in Harvey awaiting an assignment. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Jan 10
There have been several patches added to the website or updated to a newer version.
In MABAS Division 24, Lansing and Lynwood patches have been added to their pages.
The Wilmington Fire Department patch has been added in MABAS Division 15.
In MABAS Division 4, the Buffalo Grove Fire Department patch has been updated to reflect the most current design.
Nov 26
The Oak Forest Fire Department in MABAS Division 24 has been added to the site. Oak Forest has two fire stations with a 5.6 square mile district. The have 28 full-time and 31 paid-on-call personnel. Their fire suppression apparatus is mainly Pierce, but they also have an HME/Luverne engine. Rigs are pained black over red with the exception of two ambulances which are white. The newest ambulance, from Lifeline, is black over red to match the trucks.
Along with the station and apparatus photos, Karl Klotz provided closeup images of company decals from three of the rigs.
The decal from Engine Company 983. Karl Klotz photo
Nov 23
Karl Klotz has submitted photos and information for the Thornton Fire Department. This is another department in MABAS Division 24 which runs out of one station and covers 2.4 square miles. Aside from a full-time chief, Thornton relies on 30 part-time personnel to staff two Osage ambulances, two engines, one 50′ TeleSqurt, one rescue squad, and a brush rig.
They have a rather interesting mix of fire suppression vehicles. Of the four units, they have one each from Fire Max, Custom Fire, Hackney, and Pierreville (a Canadian builder). One engine is on an International chassis and the rescue has a Ford F800 chassis. The other engine features an early Spartan Gladiator cab and chassis, and the TeleSqurt has an HME 1871 cab and chassis. All the apparatus is red with the exception of Truck 747 which is painted a teal green. Karl tells us that there are several schools of thought as to the choice of color for this engine. One story apparently is that the color was the result of a contest with school children in the mid 1990s. We would be interested to know if this is the reason, or if there is another reason. Perhaps someone reading this blog has an answer. If so, please share it with us.
Nov 22
The Lynwood Fire Department in MABAS Division 24 runs out of one station to cover their district which is three square miles. Lynwood runs fire only and contracts for EMS with Bud’s Ambulance Service. They have three full-time personnel supplemented by 25 paid-on-call personnel. They run with two E-ONE engines, a 1978 CF Mack engine, a brush rig, and a dive unit. Karl Klotz submitted the images and information for this department.
Nov 15
Several updates have been made to existing fire department listings on the site:
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
